Life On The Other Side

Many moons have passed since I last updated here. Plain and simple, I’ve been busy. Our son is almost seven weeks old and like any seven week old, he needs a lot of attention. We’ve been sleep deprived while enjoying every minute with him. He’s grown quite a bit and you’d never know he was premature.

Some other milestones to note since the last update… the hubby and I celebrated my 37th birthday on June 14th and our first wedding anniversary on June 17th. It was also a joyous first father’s day for the hubby! I can’t believe we’ve been married one year already! It really seems like we’ve been married a lot longer but in a good way. We really enjoy each other’s company and we are really each other’s best friend. We’ve done quite a few things this past year together and look forward to doing more with our son.

After only 35 weeks and 5 days, our son was born on May 17, 2006 at 9:39 PM. He was 6 lbs, 14 oz and 20 inches long. The last few days have been a rollercoaster ride. I was diagnosed with PIH or pregnancy induced hypertension which facilitated the speedy birth of our boy. We were fortunate enough to have ourselves a healthy baby boy although he was considered premature due to his gestational age. The whole family is home and happy and adjusting to our new lives.

Over the Easter weekend, we took probably one of our last long roadtrips for awhile. It was a quick trip down to Georiga to visit with family and spend some time together. The trip itself is about a 3-4 hour drive depending on how many stops you make along the way (bathroom and snacks) and, of course, the traffic. We left Saturday morning and, surprisingly, there was hardly any traffic on the roads. I guess most people probably left on Friday since it was Good Friday and living here in the “Bible Belt,” a lot of people either were off or took the day off. We came home last night though there was much more traffic and two rather nasty looking accidents. The trip itself was fun and relaxing. Spending time with family is always nice and we have a good time.

If you’re not familiar with the interstate here, to drive from N.C. down to Georgia, you obviously have to travel through South Carolina. The trip itself passes through Greenville and numerous smaller towns along the way. The most enjoyable thing about the trip is seeing the greenery and the rivers and lakes. Unfortunately like most interstate highways, you also see tons of billboards and the such. There are also two specific things about S.C. that you can’t miss while driving down to Georgia. The first is that there are cigarette wholesale warehouses and the second is fireworks can be purchases all year. I have come to ignore the cigarette billboards because I don’t smoke so I have no interest in them. But I suppose if you are a smoker, buying wholesale cigarettes can save you money. As for fireworks, most states that I’ve lived in and most states in general either ban them or let you buy them for certain holidays with permit. In S.C. you can buy fireworks every single day of the year and, apparently, use them every single day of the year. I commented to the hubby that I don’t see how these businesses can survive since I’m not sure people actually buy them every single day of the year. In any case, I’d like to see what the inside of one of those fireworks warehouses looks like because they are enormous. The irony is that you can’t smoke near there so no cigarette warehouses are nearby but don’t despair because there will be some billboard along the way that will alert you of your next stop.

We had a lovely time on our trip down to Georgia and especially to the coast where I finally got to meet some of my hubby’s extended family. Both of the hubby’s parents grew up in a town along the Georgia coastline which over the years has seen some changes but remains relatively the same in population. The attraction to this town is really the islands off of it known as the Golden Isles. These consist of Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, Sea Island and Little St. Simons Island. These areas are rather the “touristy” areas that attract visitors to the town where my hubby’s parents grew up because getting to these islands you must travel through Brunswick.

Since it was my first time there, this gave my father-in-law the opportunity to play tourist with all of us as he showed us around the town and throughout two of the islands: Jekyll and St. Simons. Jekyll was once the winter retreat to many of America’s wealthy families including the Rockefellers, Cranes and Macys. Today these homes are being maintained and/or restored for the public to visit. While we didn’t have time to tour inside the homes, we did take a lovely walking tour of the area where these homes were.

This is Indian Mound, the winter cottage of the Rockefellers.

This is the Crane Cottage, the winter home of the Crane family of the Crane faucets and fixtures.

We also visited St. Simons Island where we had dinner with some family one evening and walked along the pier. The next day we visited the Fort Frederica National Monument. Here are a couple of pictures from our visit there:

This is the fort itself along the coastline.

A lovely picture of the coastline along Fort Frederica.

The trip down to the coast of Georgia was just wonderful and especially getting to meet the hubby’s only living grandparent, his grandmother who is truly a southern lady! Even at the age of 88, she is sharp as a tack with a lovely sense of humor. I can’t wait until our son gets to meet his great-grandmama.

Other highlights of our trip was visiting some of my hubby’s college friends and their new babies; spending time with his parents, brother and sis-in-law; and finally eating some Chipotle and yummy Chinese food! In all, it was a nice vacation and one that the hubby needed!

The hubby has decided that he has earned a well-deserved vacation. Here! Here! I totally agree! So this weekend we’re off to visit family and friends in Georgia. It’s always nice to getaway even though the getaway is only a couple of states away. Part of this vacation will be spent near the coastline of Georgia and I am looking forward to that. I haven’t seen the ocean since our last trip to Charleston, SC which was last July. Even though my FIL (father-in-law) says there isn’t much to see because of the brown ocean water, I still marvel at the vastness of the ocean and how open and unencumbered I feel when I’m around it. The ocean brings back so many good memories of growing up and spending time with my own family there. I can’t even begin to count the numerous times we’ve gone swimming, fishing, camping and had picnics by the ocean in Hawaii. All those were the best times growing up especially because my dad loved the ocean. I hope our son who will have the honor of bearing his late grandfather’s name as one of his own feels the same way. I hope to take lots of pictures on this trip and to post a few here to share. I haven’t been to the coastline of Georgia so I’m looking forward to a couple of things besides seeing the ocean. I’m looking forward to the drive there because it’ll be somewhere I’ve never been before and I am looking forward to visiting a new town. Really, the significance of this visit is to meet some of my hubby’s extended family members that I have never met before, not even before we got married or at our wedding. In fact, I have only met my husband’s immediate family so meeting extended family is exciting to me. On this trip I will meet his only living grandparent, a cousin or two and an aunt and two uncles, I think. Like I said, it should be fun and I enjoy spending time with family. Updates when I return!

This was our big weekend to get a few major pieces for the baby and to register. Before going to the baby superstore (BRU), we stopped in at a smaller chain store that I had been hearing about. We were lucky to find that they were having their “trimester” sale and we happened upon a crib that we liked at a nice price. It’s pretty simple looking but not entirely too plain. We liked how it looked in the store and found an added bonus of a fold-down front. So instead of one of the sides “sliding” down, about the top fourth of one of the sides folds down with a piano hinge. We like it a lot better because for one thing we get how it works without anyone telling us how it works. We also found a perfect stroller at a great deal too. We still haven’t gotten the infant carrier or a mattress so that will be our next purchases in the coming weeks. After that big purchase, we were off to the the baby superstore to register. I think if it wasn’t raining, that place would have been packed. As it was, it was pretty busy with lots of people registering but at least the aisles weren’t overcrowded. In addition to registering, we purchased some cute onesies and a little blue dinosaur (I didn’t say purple). While the hubby and I don’t really have a “theme” or color scheme for our nursery, we decided to register for a cute airplane bedding set and mobile. I guess we could have chosen baseball since we both love the game but perhaps that will come later when our boy is a little older. Pictures will be forthcoming when the crib gets assembled.

In addition to being parents ourselves, we will also become “aunty” and “uncle” at the same time. Huh, you say? Well, my hubby’s brother and his wife are also expecting and their due date is just a couple of days before ours. Imagine that! The nice thing will be, as my sis-in-law puts it, “the cousins will be the same age.” Yes, we hope the cousins-to-be will be close and rely on each other. I think it’ll also bring us (the parents) closer together (not that we aren’t close) but in a way that our kids will have each other to play with. They have already had a preliminary view into what their baby is since my sis-in-law just had an amniocenthesis though it’s through the ultrasound and not the results yet since that takes awhile. We have a couple more weeks to find out ours and that’s through the ultrasound since I declined the amnio and all other needle-ly tests after the first trimester screening. My sis-in-law had a rather good feeling what the baby might be because of dreams and somewhat of an “intuition” and unfortunately their tech. determined quite the opposite. I still don’t have a clue or have that feeling of what we might be having. So far I’ve had one dream (girl) and that’s about it. If you ask me my true feeling, I think boy so go figure. Boy, girl… my bottomline has always been healthy baby no matter what. We’ll see what’s there or not there soon enough.

My hubby dubbed this year’s Christmas as the “H***** Family Christmas Experience.” This is the first year I celebrated Christmas with his family since I am now officially part of the “family.” Last year I had the ancillary Christmas experience as the fiance who was over 2,000 miles away and that was still a bit overwhelming with a number of things his parents got me.

I didn’t know what to expect when the hubby said his mom goes “all out” for Christmas. What he meant was that they (his parents) decorate a live Christmas tree which was absolutely beautiful. In addition, a train runs around the tree and there are little decorations throughout the house incluidng a village on a sideboard and a tiny ornament tree. The newest addition to the ornament tree were ornaments with the names of the hubby, myself, his brother and his brother’s wife. Yes, I am truly a part of the family. If the decorations weren’t enough, there were tons of presents waiting to be opened.

This is the classic American family Christmas, something that seems a bit foreign to me since I grew up in Hawaii. Though we didn’t have snow outside, it was chilly enough to appreciate winter and that Christmas is truly for staying inside warm and cozy. His parents even had stockings hung by the chimney with care and filled with fun little items. Then we adjourned to the Christmas tree where present after present was passed out and everyone took turns opening. Perhaps the highlight of the gift giving was seeing his mom’s face light up a thousand times when his dad gave her a pretty three-stone diamond ring. What a wonderful thing to see after 40-something years of marriage and truly inspirational! Some of our Christmas presents this year were some baby items such as a blanket, towel, wash clothes and onesies. These were our first baby gifts and somewhat of a reality fix that we will be parents next year. We both can’t wait!

Christmas day culminated with a lovely dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and some other fixings. After all was said and done, the hubby asked how I liked the “H***** Family Christmas Experience.” My response was that it wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it would be and I enjoyed every single minute.

We’re traveling a bit further south this afternoon to celebrate Christmas with the hubby’s family. This will be the first Christmas I celebrate with them in person. Last year the hubby and I were apart but I got some wonderful Christmas gifts and wishes from his family. Christmas is a big holiday for them and one that his mom loves to prepare for. I’m excited to take part this year for the first time. Well I still have tons of things to do before we leave… here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

And now a little Christmas Meme from me to you! (borrowed from several other blogs)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Definitely hot chocolate and with lots of whipped cream!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them around the tree? All the presents are wrapped and accounted for!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We are doing colored lights on the tree this year.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot of kissing…

5. When do you put your decorations up? We put them up pretty quickly after Thanksgiving but I forget exactly when.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Truthfully, turkey and stuffing.

7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Uh, there isn’t a Santa Claus?

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I was a kid, we got to open one present on Christmas eve. When I was single and unable to go anywhere for Christmas, I usually made my own rules and opened everything on Christmas eve. This year the hubby and I will open our gifts to each other on Christmas eve since we are traveling to his parent’s house for Christmas and don’t want to lug our gifts there.

9. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Probably chocolate chip…

10. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it but I don’t think we’ll get any for Christmas…

11. Can you ice skate? The first and only time I ice skated, I couldn’t, so I guess I can’t.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don’t think I have a favorite gift so much as a favorite Christmas memory. I think I was about 6 or 7 and got up on Christmas morning with all these gifts under the tree. There are pictures of us around the tree with my dad in a lawn chair watching us. You can tell from his face he enjoyed watching my brother and I open our gifts.

13. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Reconnecting with family and friends that I haven’t had the chance to contact during the year.

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Usually anything homemade… those are the best desserts!

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? This is the first year I get to spend Christmas as a married woman with my own family (just the hubs and I for now) so we don’t have any traditions yet.

16. What tops your tree? Right now, we have a silver ornament.

17. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Giving… just because I enjoy the surprise and joy on the recipient’s face.

18. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? The Christmas Songs (Chestnust roasting on an open fire…)

19. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum! Especially the peppermint ones!

20. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, definitely!

My brother often forwards me little jokes, videos, stories, games, or whatever seems to interest him on the web. That is the extent of how we communicate. We don’t have that touchy-feely kind of relationship that some siblings have but that’s okay because our relationship is what it is. It is neither bad nor is it “Norman Rockwell” wonderful. He’s the kind of brother you’d want to have if you are destined to have a brother but not destined to be close in nature. When our dad passed away almost 5 years ago, my brother was there to comfort my mom and I, and even wrote one of his finer pieces, my dad’s eulogy, filled with warmth and laughter, just like how our dad wanted to be remembered. When I got married this year, my brother walked me down the aisle and gave me away. And when I miscarried in August, he called to tell me he loved me and that everything would be okay. He was right; everything is okay because here I am three and a half months pregnant.

While he may not send me emails recounting his day, the emails I do get still spark a bit of warmth in my heart when I see them despite being filled with nothing but trivial things from the Internet. Sometimes I look at the stuff he sends me, sometimes I don’t. In today’s email there was a link to something from the Jay Leno Show that made me laugh that I almost cried. So from my brother to me and now to you, here’s something to add some laughter into your life: photo booth fun. Make sure you watch until the end!